Edinburgh Napier University

  This project will be based in the Sport, Exercise and Health Research theme within the School of Applied Sciences, and is led by Dr. Mark Ross, Miss Karen Campbell and Professor Geraint Florida-James and is investigating the effect of exercise on chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity and endothelial dysfunction in breast cancer and leukaemia patients.

Chemotherapy treatments, such as Anthracyclines and Trastuzumab, whilst potent anti-tumour therapies, induce deleterious effects on cardiac and vascular tissue. Patients treated with cardiotoxic cancer therapies often induce hypertension, reduced cardiac function, and potentially negative effects on vascular function- which elevates cardiovascular disease risk in this patient population.

Due to the beneficial effects of exercise on hypertension and its known ability to promote vascular function, means that exercise is a well-placed treatment to be used alongside chemotherapy to alleviate the side effects of such treatments. Despite some studies showing promise, no research programme has yet to show cardiac and vascular effects combined, in both breast cancer and leukaemia patients.

The project aims to investigate the cardiac (cardiac toxicity, NT-proBNP, cardiac imaging via ultrasound), vascular (endothelial function, endothelial progenitor cell number and function), and immunological (T-cell number and function) side effects of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity in breast and leukaemia patients, as well as the influence of aerobic exercise during treatment stages to combat the side effects